Growing up, there were a few dishes that my dad cooked, and one of them was an item that my mother taught him to make: almond tofu. In retrospect, the quasi-traditional Chinese dessert, which actually contains no tofu, sounds like it came right out of a 1970s recipe book, as it was simply canned fruit syrup, cubes of almond-flavored gelatin, and pieces of canned peaches, pears, and — my favorite — cherries. But back then, whenever Dad made that dish, my heart (and stomach) would do a little dance inside.
As an adult, I crave my father's barbecue: I make a special request for it every time I fly home. (I suppose canned fruit no longer makes my stomach flitter the way it once did.) What special dish requests do you make of your family? Growing up, was there a certain thing that you were always excited to eat?
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1My dad's twice baked potatoes. They are SO good. He makes them with velveeta and lots of bacon bits.
2my mom made this potato casserole --- instant potatoes mixed with dried minced onion and sour cream, then topped with sharp cheddar and paprika and baked. We only had it on special occasions and I always loved it! As an adult, I think it's kinda gross!
3My Mom made this rice dish with fried eggs and ground beef. Then she topped it off with a raw egg. That sounds gross and unsafe, but I loved that dish when I was a kid. It was comfort food. As an adult, I wouldn't eat that now.
4My mom makes this salad with an avocado dressing that I just love. It has lots in it but the two standout ingredients are tuna and crushed fritos. Sounds weird, but it is so good.
5Lemon meringue pie!
6I love green bean casserole. I don't think I will outgrow it.
7gnocci with sugo od mesa!
8My grandmothers lasagna, I make it now but I know its not nearly as good as when she made it.
9Chicken Muenster is my all-time favorite! It's basically layers or breaded chicken breast chunks, mushrooms & muenster cheese with chicken broth poured over the top and baked.
My dad's meatloaf is a close second.
10Chicken tenders with real breaded chicken cutlets, spinach lasagna, zucchini with mozzarella and cajun catfish. Yum.
11it's funny - there were a lot of things that i used to eat when i was younger that i would never eat now since i'm a vegetarian. one of them is salmon patties. they are like crab cakes but with salmon and i loved them, but now that i don't eat fish - it's just a memory.
my grandmother also used to make something that she called 'cheese dreams' that were like grilled cheese with egg in them, all cooked in a dish so that it looked like a lasagna...
12magrit415 now you have me intrigued! I am curious about your recipe.
13My Nana's refried beans and chile con carne - it used to make my mouth water!
14My mom's banana-leaf tamales with chicken and mole
15My abuelita's albondigas
I always felt better with Shepard's Pie. It's bakes a long time so we always had it when it was cold or raining. So I associate it with 'feel' good food.
16ilanac13... salmon croquettes are one of my specialties... my kids LOVE them, but they stink up the apt. so bad
17My Babcha (Grandma in Ukrainian) had a ton of GREAT family recipes. All were Ukrainian and absolutely delicious (pirohi, holupchi, etc.) -- and now belong to my Mother and Teta, and to me and my sister one day!
18My mom was an awful cook, as was my grandmother. The only thing either of them could made successfully was biscuits & gravy and it was good! I'm the only chef in the family, so I've done all the family cooking since I was 10 or so... :]
19oops! *make - where's the edit button?! lol
20My mom learned from bother her mother, a fantastic baker and her mother in law, a fantastic cook. I love her brisket, matzo ball soup, barbecue, apple pie, apple cake, and thumbprint cookies to name a few. I can make most of the recipes, haven't tackled the brisket yet, but it is so delicious!
21My mom's homemade marinara sauce and meatballs! As a kid my sister and I would get sooo mad because she would make a huge batch and we would have to eat it every day for a week whenever she made it, but now it's what I look forward to when I go home!
22Dad's fried bologna sandwiches, Mom's pheasant cooked anyway. I could go on cause I have lots of step and half relatives that all cook pretty darn good grub - Spanish, Italian, African, Southern, Portuguese, Mexican we've gottem all in the family. Lucky us! If I include friends I'll be here all day.
23my moms not much of a cook
24neither was my father
but i do remember my mom baking butterscotch meringue pie YUMMMM!
and my father used to make my sister and i large batches of homemade fries. those were great!
My dad would make a casserole with cream of chicken soup, chopped up chicken and frozen mixed veggies and top it with pillsbury bsicuits and bake the whole thing. YUM! My mom's tortilla pizzas in a frying pan and my mom's apple pie! She died when I was younger and didn't leave the recipe and now everyone in my family refuses to eat any other apple pie!
25My Mom's pot roast and mashed potatoes, YUM! And my Grandma makes the best vegetable beef soup! If I were on death row, my last meal would be my Grandma's soup, it is seriously that good!
26My father's pizza and their applesauce! Oh!!!!!!!!! My Mother's cheese souffle I would ask for on my Birthday!
27My mom's version of my granny's king ranch chicken. I demand it nearly every time I come home.
28momma's manicotti & mac & cheese cooked in the crockpot. i don't want to know the secrets of these dishes because they taste so much better when you know that they were made just for you. she sends me home with tuppeware of my favorites and homemade chicken noodle soup whenever i visit.
29My mother isn't too fab in the kitchen, but she always makes great rigatoni, lasagna and swiss steak. Growing up we always made Hello Dollies/Seven Layer Bars for bake sales. I now include those in my holiday baking each year. My Granny's biscuits and gravy and german chocolate sheet cakes are the stuff dreams are made of! One of my aunts makes the best pickles, apple pie and gazpacho ever.
30When my family gets together it's pretty easy to overeat! We all have our specialties that someone else must have.
My Papa's homemade meatballs/patties and his famous breakfasts. My Grama's chocolate haystacks at Christmas jump out at me at the moment. I know there are so many more favourites.
31german meatballs and white rice with gravy! YUM!
32I still crave my mother's fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Comfort food at it's greasy finest. She also makes a mandarin orange salad that I love. Of course, the salad would be the healthier of the options!
33So many!!! My faves would have to be a tie between homemade mac n cheese (i make mom's all the time now!) and her spaghetti and meatballs. mmmmmmmmm
34My mother was a fantastic cook. She wasn't a gourmet cook, but everything she made was perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. I loved her roasts, meatloaf, homemade pasta sauce....everything was sooooo good! Her chicken pot pie was amazing and her pot roast unrivaled. Num!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
35I'm back. After I hit 'Post' I thought of my Mom's Baked Spaghetti, which was with cheddar cheese and I don't know what else with bread crumbs sprinkled on top. We attacked that dish when it was put on the table.
36My mom was a terrible cook. But she did some how make a great lemon meringue pie.
37My mom doesn't cook so I guess taco bell is my favorite.
But I love to cook, so I do when I can.
38Although my mom makes some killer broccoli and cheese.
39My Dad's got a few amazing recipes. One was a Chinese-flavored chicken with onions and tomatoes that was the only tomato product my brother would eat for a long time. Another was a steamed fish that I've learned and taken to making for my friends (who love it).
His mother used to make the most amazing battered and fried shrimp that we, as grandkids, couldn't get enough of. Same with her delicious oxtail soup (filled with fresh vegetables from her garden). We buried her in August of last year. Her comfort food is one of the things from my childhood that I miss the most - she never cooked after her stroke in the late 90's.
40My mom makes the BEST potato soup in the world...now I make it, and it's delicious! Also, my grandmother's roast...so good!
41My grannys swedish meatballs, Krumkake, Smultrings (doughnuts) and Lapskaus (beef stew)
My mothers lasagna, eggplant parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs and key lime pie.
42My mom wasn't the greatest cook when I was growing up but I loved when she me "hole in ones". Those are those little egg in toast things where she tore a whole in the piece of bread and fried the egg in the middle. Even as a grown adult I love when she makes me those.
43My mom wasn't that adventurous in the kitchen as far as meals go (she did make pretty decent shepherd's pie). Her talents were far more accelerated in the baking department. She made THE BEST lemon drop cookies, and peanut butter cookies...any variety of cookie, really. They were so pretty, and soooo delicious right out of the oven with a glass of milk! My entire family decided that she made the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Nothing could have made that cookie better. And no one in my family ever achieved the same quality of cookie to this day. She had a special touch. I really miss her baking.
44My mom's ravioli.
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